APS: Checking backgrounds assures safety
Continued from page 1
APS operates vans to provide rides
for an average of 70 people per night,
according to the group’s Web site.
The organization employs eight staff
members and 16 dispatchers and
uses about 80 volunteers each year,
according to the site.
Wells said volunteers undergo a
training process. If a volunteer coordi
nator doesn’t approve of a volunteer
during training, they “have an oppor
tunity to ‘suggest a different type of
volunteer work’” for that person.
She said APS drivers’ traffic records
are checked because they must be cer
tified to drive through the University.
Wells said APS considered back
ground checks as a way to increase
safety for riders after Project Saferide
and Night Ride merged last year.
She added that APS should be able
to check its workers’ backgrounds,
especially because some riders may be
survivors of past assaults.
“I feel it’s a pretty valid case,” she
said. “It just seems kind of counter
intuitive that we wouldn’t be able to
do that.”
Wells said APS members are still in
terested in conducting the checks but
are faced with more pressing issues be
cause the organization lost paid posi
tions during this year’s budget process.
She said if checks are not al
lowed, the organization will contin
ue to rely on training for volunteer
coordinators to “weed out people
(APS doesn’t) feel like create a
comfortable environment.”
She added that she didn’t know of
any concerns from riders about work
ers having a history of assault, al
though some volunteers have been as
signed to conduct research or
distribute fliers because they didn’t
conform with the “structure and feel”
of the organization.
APS Co-Director Elisabeth Jackson
said many workers are from other
states, requiring more money to screen
workers and preventing the organiza
tion from conducting searches of Ore
gon criminal records for free.
“I want to emphasize that we’re do
ing the best that we can to compensate
for... the fact that we’re not able to do
background checks,” Wells said.
Wells said there is always the possi
bility that a worker could have a histo
ry of assault, although it is “highly im
probable.” She said even background
checks wouldn’t make the group “cer
tain the problem would be alleviated. ”
Jackson agreed.
“We are confident; we’re just trying
to make it better,” she said.
parkerhowell@ daily emerald, com
Chess: Game represents icon of intellectualism
Continued from page 1
“Everybody associates a good chess
player with intelligence.”
Ramey said studies show playing
chess can improve academic perform
ance, help reintegrate prisoners into
society and reduce the risk of
Alzheimer’s disease in elderly people.
Ramey said the first reference to
chess was recorded in fifth century
Persia. The king said no ruler could
effectively govern a kingdom with
out being a chess player. Chess was
introduced to Europe through
Russia in the ninth and 10th cen
turies when Russian leaders
adopted it as the royal game.
Ramey, who teaches chess at Chess
Ways in Eugene, described four main
aspects to the study of chess: opening
moves and sequences of moves; tactics
and exchanges; strategy and
long-range planning; and “endgame.”
Chess games in the tournament
were allowed to last up to four
hours, with two hours per player
monitored by clocks on the tables.
Hamilton said during one of the
tournament’s games, a player took
25 minutes to make a move.
“You reach a certain point in a chess
game where you reach a complex posi
tion,” Ramey said. “If you find the
right move, it can set the tone of the
rest of the game for you. ”
The UO Chess Club meets at 5 p.m.
Fridays in the EMU Fishbowl. The
ASUO-funded group offers instruction,
friendly play and intercollegiate play,
and it is open to all.
evasylwester@ daily emerald, com
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